At David Greggory Restaurant in DC I asked the server if this or a Tempranillo would be a better mild wine to have without food (I was eating at another restaurant later in the evening). He recommended the Zin which may have been a bum steer considering the 15% alcohol. Anyway...

Deep garnet color but not opaque (can see through it). Scents of dark berries. Taste of brambleberries and mild oak influence. Some unresolved drying tannins but appealing overall. Can see it with aged cheese, barbeque beef or pork ribs.

15%??? What's with all the good guys increasing the alcohol? I like Peachy Canyon but there's got to be a ceiling somewhere. Is it the American palate demanding this or the fruit at harvest dictating this?

Blame the hang time. With zin it's no big deal. The riper fruit has higher ph. The higher the ph the less time the wine will age. Like I said this is no big deal with zin because it is not a long time ager anyway. What this trend means for cabernet and cabernet blends, remains to be seen.

"In just about every winemaking region, summers are getting hotter, which means riper grapes. The riper the grapes, the lower the wine's acidity and the higher its alcohol content. Nowadays, wines routinely tip the scale at 14 and 15 percent alcohol; toss in the jammy fruitâ€”another consequence of excessive heat in the vineyardâ€”and what you get are massive, brooding wines that snarl at any food that comes near.

This might seem a result to be avoided, but in fact many vintners want their wines overripe and over-the-top and so are leaving grapes on the vine longerâ€”"maximum hang time," in vineyard-speak ("dude" optional)â€”pushing the extraction (i.e., squeezing as much color and tannins out of the grape skins as possible), soaking their wines in new oak, and generally doing everything they can to turn out cabernets and merlots that Make a Statement. This is particularly true in California and Australia, both of which pump out lots of high-alcohol wines that have the viscosity of motor oil.

Winemakers make these confections because there's a market for them, and it's easy to understand why: The wines are fruity, forward, and deliver a quick buzz. They are also popular within influential segments of the wine press, which is no accidentâ€”many of these behemoths are essentially pageant wines, designed to stand out in comparative tastings."

The mention of Ph is important. It is something producers don't talk about, but quite ripe grapes means less acid and higher Ph--bad for stability, even if the alcohol helps in stability. More importantly, high Ph is simply bad for the taste of the wine--chalky, soapy, fat, et al.